[Editor's note: Before any of you send mail to John Patrick Gatta, the title of this piece is mine. Given the fact that Jay's last name, Serafin, looks like "serpahim" a word that describes angels, it seemed appropriate, particularly given the holiday slant to this piece. But you knew that out already, rendering this note moot. Sorry, read on...]  

    In the midst of the holiday season, talk inevitably rests on doing something for those close to us; even those we encounter. Whether it's a gift or a small act of kindness, its part of the overall holiday spirit to give a little. Think of it as a massive dose of karmic interaction - the good that you do will inevitably come back to you.

    In the case of Jay Serafin, such acts take place 365 days a year. One could possibly forgive him if he indulged in bitterness due to the unfortunate circumstances life has given him.  But Serafin doesn't allow himself to concentrate on his troubles. 

    Through his previous work as a paramedic, he helped out those who met with unexpected moments of tragedy. As the creator and distributor of "kindness" tapes, he has offered a service to the evergrowing music-loving community and to himself.

     Making copies of live performances on analog tape, dat, cd-r and mini-disc is a free enterprise ("no bootlegging!") Serafin performs due to his love of the music, desire to make people feel better and the knowledge that such work keeps his mind busy and away from the pain of his own physical ailments.

     A bulging disc in his lower back was followed by several surgeries, as doctors tried in vain to control the high amount of scar tissue his body naturally grew. Unable to lift much more than 25 pounds or sit upright for long periods of time, he gave up his job as a paramedic.  His secondary career, as a sound engineer in his own commercial recording studio, came to an end due to the long hours necessary to put in the proper amount of work.    

In a way the audio enthusiast found a silver lining in the situation.  Although disability payments won't equal his current cash flow, the stress of 12-hour days will be over and he can devote more of his time to the Kindness field, which he started over five years ago. He'll even be able to listen to shows for pure enjoyment rather than merely checking for technical glitches.

     The 47-year-old Chicago-area resident developed this life of giving to others while attending club shows around Evanston, Illinois. ``It was the community atmosphere that I enjoyed the most. No rowdies, drunks, etc. It was a magical time for a lot of us.''

     These feelings grew through the music and the community that surfaced around the Grateful Dead. Serafin began attending shows in the late `70s. ``The scene, at that time, was one of community and caring, not like what it started to become in the very late `80s until the end of their run. I have always liked the diversity of their music.  There was always something new to enjoy and this is what attracted me, musically.'' 

     His interest in audio began at age 14. This led to attending and graduating from DeVry, a school for electronics and related fields and, later, degrees in audio engineering and television production from Columbia University.

     ``Columbia's reputation as a tough school was well founded, as all of the instructors are either current or recently retired professionals who worked in the fields they taught.  There was no slacking off.  Every day was difficult, demanding, and challenging. And, that was right up my alley.''      He used his expertise as an engineer in local recording studios, and free-lance assignments with CNN and NBC.

     ``Even though I was very well paid for my services, and I enjoyed my work,  I  never felt fulfilled. My mindset, ever since I was a youngster, was to help people.'' 

     Then, one day he decided to leave his job at PBS and become a paramedic.  His multi-dimensional worklife--medical and audio--caused him to greet each day with newfound enthusiasm. But, a singular incident in the summer of 1994 caused his physical downward spiral and the changes in career and comfort of life.  A call to a nursing home and the removal of an extremely overweight patient who was having trouble breathing resulted in the back injury that haunts him to this day.

     When he couldn't perform his duties as a paramedic, Serafin returned to his original passion, that of working within the realm of audio.   He worked with a host of local acts, providing his gifted hearing and technical expertise to the proceedings.

    The innerworkings of his studio grew to incorporate more components from the digital domain, while equipment companies used him as a beta tester. Much of this was sold when the commercial side of Serafin Station Studio B closed, with only the necessary fixtures kept for Kindness dubs.     

  Around the same time he was spending more hours in his home studio, Serafin became involved in the world of tape trading, and, in the process, upgrading his collection. A satisfied trader dubbed his studio ``Serafin Station'' in reference to the classic Dead tune.

     More recordings made their way to his door wherein he tweaked them into better shape, taking the source material and reconstruction it, as best as he could, through every technological means available. Soon, word spread and, in time, he gained invaluable high quality copies from a Marin County source who, to this day, remains nameless.

     With his expanding collection, Serafin set about to change the course of tape trading through the sheer volume and high quality of his dubs. His main thrust of activity became Kindness taping wherein a request from a live music enthusiast would result in a "dubbing date." While his instructions for receiving Serafin Station dubs are exacting, the finely-detailed copies make the effort worth it.

     ``Since 1996, I have averaged 3,000 total dubs for people annually.  I feel that I owe it to the community as a whole. The Dead allowed us full access to their music, allowing us to tape their shows and trade them freely amongst ourselves as well as the uninitiated. And, being blessed with all that I have at my disposal [in my studio], as well as the willingness to help others in any way I can, it's a labor of love.''

     In a little over five years he's accumulated more than 500 hours of concert recordings including sets by the Grateful Dead and its related side projects as well as performances by Phish, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Sting, Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads and Korn.

     Now that he has additional time to devote to his kindness endeavors,  Serafin is in the process of preparing even more hours of live recordings into the best sonic quality possible and then adding them to his ever-growing list of available dubs.

     "In my electronics, audio, and medical careers as well as in my personal life, I have a very simple philosophy. That is `Always treat people the same way you want to be treated.' If you live by that motto, you learn a lot about yourself, your wants, likes and dislikes and you can form your treatment of others accordingly."